I Cleaned House!

I told you that those two would just drop everything and leave the premises. They did.

After I left you yesterday, I went and cleaned out the townhouse. I still have to pick up minute pieces of yellow rubber out of the rug in the workroom..... Not even a thumb left whole of the gloves that they were trying to make the Hazmat suits from.....Maybe I should be fair and say "Tessie was trying". By the time she finished chopping and gave up. Zar was laughing so hard that he was doing the old ROFLOL thing. I did see Tessie give him a swift kick before she left in a huff.

Since the townhouse is habitable again, they went right back to see what they could do in there.

Tessie started measuring for the poles in the closet. Never mind that the walls aren't all up yet and nothing is glued together. I guess that she figures I can do the closet walls to fit the length of the poles.

Never mind that, chances are, the poles are going to have to run in the other direction....and there will be shelves somewhere. At least it was keeping them occupied. It really does make me nervous to see them getting along though.

After she got bored with closet poles, Tessie started pestering me about a bed for her master suite, as she calls it. Please don't tell her that a "master suite usually includes an attached bath.

When she was in the workroom yesterday, she started looking longingly at The Bed.....That's how she says it....The Bed....With capitals. She has been drooling over this bed as long as I have known her. I wouldn't let her have it in her cottage. It wouldn't fit. Unfortunately, I no longer have that excuse.

It has never had an official room of it's own. Tessie informed me that she didn't want a swinging 60s bed. "It will make me dizzy!"

I refrained from telling her that she was already dizzy.

I have to admit that it probably would look good in her townhouse. Before I could stop her, she zapped it in to see if it would fit....It did....

Then she disappeared in a flash and reappeared in another flash. This time she zapped a French dressing table that I carved about twenty years ago.....Hey wait! That was in Cordelia's bedroom.

Tessie plonked it down opposite the bed and said, with satisfaction, "Cordelia didn't want this anymore and I do, so we made a deal."

I asked what the "deal" was. Her answer? "The deal was, I wipe it from her memory and I get to keep it."

Ummmmm.....Somehow that doesn't sound like a deal to me. That sounds like coercion of some sort.

Oh well....What Cordelia doesn't remember doesn't bother her. At least in theory.

Tessie managed to knock the mirror from the top when she zapped it. I will have to glue it back. She could be a bit more careful with her zapping....

I wouldn't let her do her usual routine of jumping up and down on the bed to try it out, so she went and found something to read and sprawled across it instead.

Please note the ad on the back cover. And I quote.... "Invest in the Best". I guess it does apply....Not that she buys anything. Her investments are mostly borrowed or pilfered. She does like the best of everything though.
I have to go to the Wednesday Witches mini meeting soon, so I will leave you with proof that the downstairs is spruced up and ready to work on tomorrow.

Let's just hope that it stays that way for the next 24 hours. Wish me luck!

See you tomorrow.

One Place or the Other.....

Anymore, it always seems that if the workroom is clean, the family room(townhouse area) is a mess, or vice versa.....How does that happen???
Early this morning I heard a ruckus in the family room. It was Tessie and Zar.

They took it upon themselves to see what they could do to get the dollhouse cleaned up and ready for work.

They both had rubber gloves up to their elbows. Tessie had the vac and Zar had a mop. They drew straws and Zar lost as usual. I don't know why he even tries.

They were arguing as to which one got which floor to clean.....Why argue? This is what it looks like when you pull back for the over all picture.


It seems to me that the first and second floor are in a tie.

I can't do any more to the third floor until I get the lights installed and I can't do that until I get a couple more.

I went away to somewhere that was not there. I was afraid that they would pull me into the cleaning frenzy.

Not being in the mood for cleaning or a frenzy, I stayed away. Then I realized that there was not a peep coming from the townhouse.

I looked and they were nowhere in sight and everything was just as it was when I left.

Logically, I reasoned that they would be in the newly cleaned workroom, where they could sit and chat without arguing about what they were going to do next......You won't believe what I found.

Yes. That is, or used to be, one of my rubber gloves.....When I went in Tessie was insisting that they needed Hazmat suits to protect themselves as they cleaned the townhouse!

It's bad, but I didn't think that it was poisonous....

I stood behind the door, where they couldn't see me and I heard Tessie say, "I am telling you,Zar. That place is dangerous!"

She has ruined three of my rubber gloves. They are all in pieces and two of them have Plexiglas visors glued into them.

The one that she was working on still had all four fingers and a thumb. She had her feet shoved into the two middle fingers. She wiggled her toes and said,"If we can just figure a way to make the legs shorter and shape feet, we will have the first part of the problem solved. We can cut off the other two fingers and make sleeves. The top can be closed and an air hose installed....."

Zar was trying not to laugh. She resembled a large, yellow, five legged octopus. I forgot to mention that the thumb was still attached to the back and she looked like she had a tail.

There is one more glove left in the package. Two pair. As soon as she cuts that last one into ribbons, hopefully she will give up and go back to hazardous cleaning....OK....I know that she will just leave that mess as well as the mess in the townhouse.

I guess that I may as well go start digging out the townhouse. By the time I am done, she will have the workroom in shambles again. I told you....It's always one place or the other.....

See you tomorrow.

It's Summer!

Yesterday, I was over at my friend Katie's blog. She is at Katie's Clay Corner.

http://katiesclaycorner.blogspot.com/2010/06/something-new-to-try.html

For those of you that aren't familiar with her blog, she is a very talented miniaturist and polymer clay artist, among other things.

Yesterday she figured out how to make metal bird houses from paper. She used the birdhouse idea from the magazine "Flea Market Style".

They turned out wonderfully.

She gave credit for the technique to
Marlies and Minies. http://marliesminies.blogspot.com/search/label/how%20do%20I%20do?updated-max=2009-05-06T13%3A29%3A00%2B02%3A00&max-results=20

A lot of bloggers have jumped on the pitcher bandwagon and we have all experimented with Marlies's technique. It is really clever.

I decided to mess with it this morning. Elsewhere in my blog, I made some terracotta pots with this. Today I decided that it would be a great way to make serving trays.

All I could find for patterned paper was some Christmas card stock.....Not exactly summer.

The nice thing about trays is they can be just about any shape that you want them to be.

I used a Woodsie's oval for the pattern. I had dark green on green striped paper and some red swirly stuff. The only thing I could think of to do with it was make a watermelon tray.

I drew out an oval on the back of both the green and the red and glued them back to back. Then I cut a strip of the dark green about a quarter inch wide for the lip of the tray. It needed something for the inside, so I cut some of a lighter green to represent the inside of the rind.

I couldn't stop with just a tray. I went over to Marlies's and did a jug with green outside and red inside. That led to glasses. I cut down the pattern for the bottom of the jug and flipped it upside down. I reduced it so that the height of the glasses would be 1/2" tall.

I ran a rim around the tray and glued it at the bottom edge. Then I trimmed it with perle cotton on the top and bottom edge. I put a handle on either end of the tray.

I used the same perle cotton to edge the pitcher and the cups.

I still need to varnish all of the pieces, but it was getting late and I wanted to show you the results.

Tessie now has a set for summer beverages in the roof garden.

Remember the other day when Zar used the mesmerizer on Tessie at the beauty salon?

I do believe that they are now even. Tessie showed up with a wand in her pocket and Zar acting like she had him on a leash.

He has been waiting on her, hand and foot. There have been a lot of "Yes Ma'am." and "No Ma'am."s and a few "As you wish, Madam."s flying around on the roof.

I don't think that the spell was strong enough though. I managed to get this photo just as Zar "accidentally" dumped the contents of the new pitcher over her lap.... Well, maybe not so even.....

At least it is not breakable or my work would have been for nothing.

I have to go help Tessie clean up the mess. Zar is nowhere to be seen.....If he knows what's good for him, I think he will stay away for a while.

See you tomorrow.

Back to Boring.....

I have vowed to clean up one mess before starting another in the workroom this time. It has lasted for a week! Amazing!

Actually, I am still cleaning things out and will be for quite some time.

This morning I moved my paint bottles from their former location in plastic bin drawers to their new home in the table drawer under the saw. It worked out quite well. I managed to squeeze all of my white glue bottles in there too.

When I got to the next drawer, guess what I found? I have been looking for my 19-0 paint brush for over a year. Not only did I find that one, but I found a boat load of brushes that I didn't know I had. Some of them were other favorites that had been missing in action.

Tessie made the suggestion that I put the favorites in the frog on my worktable so that they wouldn't disappear again. No. I didn't force a frog to swallow them. I collect glass flower frogs. Don't ask me why. I guess that it fascinates me that someone thought them up to keep flowers straight in a vase long ago. Obsessive-compulsive much? LOL

They are really quite useful for other things besides flowers. I have them here and there all over the house to keep pencils, scissors and other tools handy.

The other day, when I started working in the disreputable workroom again, I started using another item that I will pass along. We all have good intentions at the start of a new year. We either buy or someone gives us a daily planner. I usually get less than a month into a new year before it hides in an obscure place or I throw it across the room in disgust because I forgot to note something in it and forgot about that something.

I have a large one that Walter brought home from work last year and yes, it had almost all of it's pages intact. It was lying in the middle of my work table. I decided, being to lazy to move it two feet to the left, that I would just leave it where it was and use it as a work surface.

It is now there forever or until it's pages all disappear. I am thrilled with it. I can put a puddle of glue on it or a small dab of paint that I need to use. I can lay a piece of paper on it and smear Yes glue all over said paper without worry of cleanup. When I am finished with a task, I simply rip off the page and start all over.

I know that you could do this with any old pad of paper, but I am getting satisfaction from the fact that I am using that darned book before I throw it away. I will write my appointments on the calendar or just remember them in my head. Easy clean up is much more important than making a list of things to do. I usually make the list and forget to take the book with me anyway. It's too big to carry around.

OK. I'm done with the rant of the day. Back to the subject of brushes.

Tessie volunteered to help sort out the found brushes. Ten seconds into the process she found a big brush with a puce handle....So much for help.

The pile that you see next to her are the found objects.

I am a very bad cleaner of brushes, so as I have mentioned before, alcohol is a lifesaver for me.
the glass that you see at the front of the photo is full of alcohol and all of the dirty or semi dirty brushes that I found in the mess. I am happy to report that I only lost three. Those were due to Minwax stain.

This is a before and after of the worst of the worst. Yes. The grey paint was hard as a rock. And yes. That is the same brush, top and bottom. Alcohol is amazing stuff.

Are you tired of me wandering yet? I hope so.....I am just about done. The same drawer that had the brushes had watercolor and tube acrylics in it. Some of the watercolors were dried in the tubes. They can still be used, but that gives you some idea as to how long I have had them.

When you have clean brushes and watercolors, it follows that you want to see if they still work.

That was the last step. I went rummaging for a block of watercolor paper. Found it, for some reason known only to the bookworms, I found it in the bookcase in our bedroom. I have absolutely not idea why I put it there. I don't paint watercolors in bed.



I am very pleased to report that the brushes, paints and paper all work well together.....I am not so sure about the artist. I don't remember the last time I put watercolor on paper.

I messed with them for a while and these are what came out of my head. I need something or someone to look at.

Tessie just volunteered to model. She says she Will sit still as long as I make her look like the Mona Lisa.....I'm not sure if she is referring to the painting I will be doing or if she thinks I do make up on the side.....

See you tomorrow.

"Good Morning. I'm Balthazar......"

Tessie started out rolling her own hair to go under the dryer this morning. I painted the rollers puce just for her. I won't show you the photos of her shampooing....The words "drowned rat" come to mind....

Had I known that she was serious about using the new hair dryer, I would have elasticized the bonnet. As it was, I had to take out the thread and run some elastic thread around the edge.

When she finished rolling it, the trouble started.

I heard someone say in a very formal voice, "Good Morning. I'm Balthazar. I will be your stylist today."

He beamed at her and plonked the bonnet from the hair dryer over the curlers. He had to improvise a stand for the dryer higher than her head to get it to work.

First he suggested that she sit on the floor and put the dryer on the chair......

You know how that goes. The indignity of it all!....Tessie was in a snit before he finished the sentence. What I don't understand is, her surroundings were the same as they were minutes ago when she rolled her own hair. Her lower lip went out in a pout and she hissed through her teeth, "What kind of a salon is this? How dare you ask me to sit on the floor?!?"

Zar knew better than to argue. He dragged in her director's chair and placed it behind her easy chair. He piled a foot stool on top of the chair and her box from the other hair dryer on top of that to make the whole thing high enough.

Then he opined, "If you would have let me make you a steam powered, gear driven, dryer, you wouldn't have this problem. The dryer could have had a much longer hose.....Granted it would take longer to dry your hair and it would probably be frizzy when it was done, but it would work better."

No more words from Tessie. She just sat there, her lips in a thin, grim line and glared at him for the thirty minutes that it took to dry her hair.

He returned, with comb in hand, to finish the job. (I was still trying to figure out how he got the title "hair stylist".)

He at least was gentle....I didn't hear one "Ouch!" or "That hurt!" from Tessie. She simply sat there twiddling her thumbs throughout the process.

By this time, I was suspicious that Zar had used his mesmerizer before starting the job.

When the job was finished, he put Spike in her lap, so that she wouldn't be able to jump up or use her hands. Zar may be a lot of things, but he's not stupid.

Then and only then, he let her look in the mirror.

"It's really pretty. So different than what I usually do." murmured Tessie.

With that, I knew that something was fishy. Look at that hair do and tell me that there is even one hair that has changed.......You can't and neither can I.

"Zar! Where did you hide the mesmerizer? I don't want Tessie in a trance for the rest of the day......No wait.....She's happy, right?" I said....Then...."Balthazar, you should change professions. The way you do hair is amazing!"

Hmmmmm.....Steampunk hair dryer? Interesting......

See you tomorrow.

Every Girl Should Have One!

Back when women had to have curls every day of the week, they also had to have a bonnet type hair dryer. In the 60s they were sold by the thousands and everybody loved them. The convenience of a beauty salon in your own home.

Tessie announced this morning, after seeing a few of the hatbox hair dryers on the net, that she must have one of her own. That silly hand held thing was just not adequate for the job.

"If I am going to do the 60s right, I need the new and wonderful electrical things that make life easier!" she said.

I had to do a lot of improvising for this one. I found some photos on Google and went to work.

For the outer shell, I started looking at bottle caps, but couldn't find one the right size to do the job. Then I spotted one of those kits to make covered buttons. The top should be curved at the edges. The bottom had to be made to fit the top. I used the largest size.

I grabbed one of those ever present cardboard dividers from the 12 packs of cat food. Then I cut a circle the same size as the button form and a long piece to fit around 3/8" high. I glued those together by butting the bottom edge of the strip against the circle and overlapping it about 1/4" at the back. I clamped that and let it dry.

Then I stretched blue suede over the top of the form and eased in the edges to make a smooth cover. It takes a bit of maneuvering, but it can be done.

I cut a round piece and a strip for the bottom and glued it on. I trimmed it even with the edges.

Then I used a white leather glove to line the interior of both the top and bottom.

I cut a short piece of leather and glued it in place for the handle. Then I glued strips of silver paper around the edges of both the top and bottom.

All of the machines had some kind of motor set in the middle of the case with a vent on the top. I did this part with three round, stacked Woodsies. I covered and stretched the white leather over those and trimmed of the excess at the bottom edge.

I glued that into the center bottom of the case. Then I put an odd metal piece for the vent and four beads for the knobs.

All of these dryers seem to have about the same kind of hose. They were flexible and kind of pleated around a coiled wire. I did that with four pieces cut out of a thin bendable straw. I pulled them out before cutting. After cutting it is almost impossible. Then I cut one end flush with the pleats and the other end about a quarter inch away from the pleats. I squished the plain end and stuffed it into the pleated end of the next piece with some glue inside the pleated tube.

I glued some silver paper around each end of the hose. This lays in a circle around the motor in the bottom.

The bonnet is simply a 3" yo yo. Anybody that does quilting will be familiar with this. You cut out the circle and turn in the edges about an eighth of an inch. Baste it with short stitches around the edge. Pull up on the thread until it is a little poof.

The last step was cutting a tiny hole in the center for the connector. That is also a piece of the straw covered with silver paper just glued in place.

Tessie is waiting impatiently whilst I type. She wants her hair done...."NOW!"

I guess I will have to humor her....I know that within 24 hours she will be bored with the whole thing and back to her normal frizzy hair do.

I will try to catch a few photos of her in her puce curlers. No promises though.

She is yelling again. I have to go play hair dresser.

See you tomorrow.

Out of the Box......

I shouldn't have cleaned up the workroom....I keep finding things and playing with them.....

This morning it was some nice 1/16" walnut. I love the color of walnut. You don't have to stain it. Just smooth it and put a nice satin finish on it. When I make furniture with it, it gets sanded a number of times and varnished between the sanding.

This time I didn't bother. The little box is one that Tessie is going to be using and will get lots of wear and tear.

While I was going through my drawers, I found several items that I used to put in little boxes. Tessie saw them and I was immediately ordered to make her one of the boxes in question.

I gave you a diagram of the box I made with measurements of the pieces. Please don't try to use the diagram as a pattern....It's not all that accurate.

Anybody can build a box. Determine the size that you want the bottom. Cut two side pieces the same width as the bottom and the height that you want the box. Next cut a front and back the same height, the length will be determined by how thick the wood is. It will be the length of the box + two of the thicknesses of the wood.

You assemble them in that order. Bottom. Sides glued to the bottom edge. Front and back glued to bottom edge and to the ends of the sides. It helps to have a gluing jig. That makes it a lot faster.

The top of the box is determined by how much overhang you want on the edges. I did mine 1/16" on the sides and front.

For the lid, I cheated and put a silk ribbon hinge on the back of the box and the lid.

I decorated the top of the box with a jewelry finding that I found, after tipping the whole box of findings upside down on the rug. I had to sweep most of them up into the dust pan and the rest I had to pick out of the rug, one by one.....It was not a good morning....

By now you are probably asking what's in the box or you have wandered away and found something more interesting to do.

Here's Tessie with said box. She has been singing "I Feel Pretty" from West Side Story at the top of her lungs since I handed it to her.

The box has a set of eight pink rollers, a hair dryer, a can of hairspray and a small brush inside.

I forgot to mention that I put a divider in the middle of the box by using a strip of the walnut that was 1/16" shorter than the height of the outside of the box. Thus it turned out even with the box height.

You can't really see it in the photo, but the hairdryer has a cord attached. I made it form a length of perle cotton.

Have you ever seen a red headed witch with pink rollers in her hair? Well, you probably won't. She is already complaining that red heads don't look good in pink....

"I wanted puce!"

I guess I should humor her. It will only take a couple of minutes to slap on a coat of puce........OK.....Have you ever seen a red headed witch with puce curlers in her hair? You may shortly.....

See you tomorrow.

Out of the Bag.....

It wasn't easy, getting Tessie to come out. I had forgotten that I lined that particular bag with puce silk.....We all know what puce does to Tessie......

Zar plied her with something pink and fizzy in a martini glass. That didn't do it. Here we thought that we were torturing her.....She thought that we were being really nice.

Today is Wednesday and I have a mini meeting to get ready for, so as usual, I am going to ramble on about a number of things and get nothing accomplished.

First I wanted to show you a find from Walmart. These mini clothespins were in the office supplies section. Not only are they cute, but they work as mini clamps where the larger, real ones won't fit. Twelve in a package for less than two dollars.

Unfortunately, they are easy enough for Tessie to open, so somebody's gonna get pinched!

Next is a book that I ordered from Amazon last week.

This is a must for anyone doing a Victorian house. I can't begin to tell you all of the information in it. I gives one many, many ideas for accessorizing a Victorian house. Love it.

Zar and Tessie got a hold of it and now they both want lots of new things that they found inside. I have an out. It's neither Steampunk or 60s. I am safe for now.

The last thing for today is a website that you are going to love.....Hang onto your pocketbooks!


http://www.wholelottawhimsy.com/wo/content/shopping/catalog
This website is for jewelry making, but it has a whole lotta stuff that can be used in mini making.

Under the tool section, you will find the embossing stamps that I used to make the pitcher and box the other day and lots of other neat embossing tools. Also under the tool section, there is a selection of mini punches. Lots of leaves that are just the right size for our work. After you finish wandering around in those, there are so many other things that would work for us. Have fun.

I am off to do some more cleaning in the workroom and then to minis.

See you tomorrow.

Making Progress....

This morning, with Tessie's help, I got the table in from the garage for the scroll saw. For many, many years, when I wanted to use the Dremel scroll saw, I had to drag it from the garage to the kitchen counter and set it up.

I got the new Micro Lux, I decided that I wanted some place to have it ready and waiting. Then the other day when I realized that there were three feet of unused floor space in the workroom, things clicked.

I knew that there was a reason that I hung onto that table. This was the reason.

It is higher than most end tables. As you can see, it is desk height. All I had to do was take the drawer out, so that I could clamp the saw to the table. I put the drawer on the shelf underneath and it is still usable....Nothing in it yet.

Mister Lux finally has a home. Now I have no excuse, what so ever, not to get back to work.

In fact, Tessie can't wait. Her favorite spot for watching and directing makes me very nervous. I had to have Zar help me get her down. It wasn't easy with Spike barking at us the whole time.

We finally compromised. She can stay on the table. Just not on the saw.

I fixed a place for her at the back of the table. She is playing boss and shouting orders for us to get started cutting things...

See that long piece of wood that Zar just handed to her?

She spied it in the wood drawer and immediately demanded that it be made into a lllooonnnggg wand. Her latest theory is, the longer the wand, the better the spell.

It's just a good thing that it didn't let her go into the garage. I have some regular quarter round molding that is eight feet long. I definitely don't relish carving a wand that long.

Maybe we can distract her...."Hey Tessie! Look behind you! Lots of sparkly beads! I'll let you use the purse for a sleeping bag."

The plan is, I open the bag. Zar pushes her in, head first. I close the bag and we have a very quiet peaceful day. I could get so much done with her in the bag......I can dream, can't I?

See you tomorrow.

From Daisies to Sunflowers....

....In three easy steps..... That is, if you have this particular plant in your yard.

Tessie and I went out to pick dried up flowers from this daisy like bush this morning. I can't remember the name. If any of you know what it is, I would love to have that info. Every April and May they are covered in the little yellow daisies. In June they turn into mini sunflowers. Magic....Kind of....

OK. So I had a little help from some paint and paper. It's still magic. The other dried stems in the plastic box to the right of Tessie are some weeds that also grow here in AZ. When the dried up flower stalks are painted, they make wonderful delphiniums or stocks, depending on what color you paint them and what kind of leaves are added. Just look around when you take a walk. You never know what you will find.

This is one of the simplest ways to make flowers that I know. No punching out petals or gluing them together, as far at the flowers themselves.

I painted the petals inside and out, yellow. Then I painted the stems green. To add the leaves, I punched out several sizes of hearts from green drawing paper. I embossed the leaves with a stylus. Then I twisted fine covered wire around the stem of the sunflower. I glued the leaves to the stems and instant(almost) sunflowers.

I have a couple of other unrelated photos to add. Seth brought over his new camera yesterday. It is a fancy one and takes unbelievable photos. April caught Mookie sticking out his tongue at the camera. As you can see, he is feeling much better and made me leave him some shelf space in the workroom.

This last one is of the passion vine in the backyard. These flowers are spectacular this time of year.

I am going to leave you now. I need to finish the sunflowers.

See you tomorrow.

Happy Dad's Day!

No matter how you celebrate today.....Take a ride,Kick back and watch TV....Fall asleep in your chair.Go out and play your favorite game!

Just celebrate! Happy Father's Day from me, Tessie and the rest of the gang!

I am off to make potato salad, bake beans and other goodies. Just waiting for the kids to get here.

See you tomorrow.

Three More Feet Found!

I kept going yesterday with the Fimo Vessels. I am very pleased with the results.

Left to right....The first one, I used a texture block on it before I formed the pitcher. Then I very carefully formed the pitcher and dusted it with silver powder.

The second one is a bit of whimsy. It probably wouldn't be practical in real life, but it was fun to do. The third one, I fired unfinished. I am not sure what I am going to do with it.

The last two are similar to some that Nikki of Witch and Wizard Miniatures makes. http://nikkinikkinikki72.blogspot.com/ Not a direct copy though. I am not sure how she makes hers. Hers are better.***Add on*** After writing to Nikki, I must credit Debie of Piskies and Poppets also. http://piskies-and-poppets.blogspot.com/ it seems that the original idea came from her. Thanks Debie for the idea. I hope that you don't mind that I a made a couple of the bottles kind of like yours for Tessie!

Then there is the gold box. I did that like the first pitcher. I embossed it first, when it was flat. Then I cut out the pieces and put it together. The top fits tightly. I just left it ajar to show that it opens. After I got it put together, I dusted it with gold.

BTW, if you are trying this technique, don't dust until the piece is put together. Also do it before you put it in the oven. Otherwise the pieces won't stick together and after you bake it, the powder doesn't stick.

Now onto the three feet that I found. They are on the fourth wall. I found room to put another bookcase in place or another work table!!! I think that I am leaning towards the worktable. I need a place to permanently anchor my scroll saw.

I was patting myself on the back for solving the problem of where to put all of that pesky crochet thread.

I make net shopping bags out of the thread, using several strands held together. They are very strong.

I put all of one size of thread in each of the bags and hung them in the area in question.

I kept looking at it and realized that the area was not being put to good storage use. Nature and I abhor a vacuum....

I have just the table out in the garage. I would stay and talk longer, but I am on a mission. A vacuum needs filling. Gotta run!

See you tomorrow.

Come On In!

I am back to being a lazy blogger. I have a long list to welcome today.

Here we go.

We have Julie S, Naomi, Mini Babies(Patty corrected this one herselfhttp://patty-petit-orphelin.blogspot.com/ ) ,Not of This World, Latiana, Wonderland,Mini Kitchen( Debbie kindly sent me Mini Kitchen's URL.. http://minniekitchen.blogspot.com/ ),Sabrina Turner, fmagico, all of whom I have no information. If you have a blog, let me know and I will add the url.

Now for the ones that have blogs.... Please go look.

First is Heather. She has more than one blog, but I will give you Diary of a Dollhouse. http://diaryofadollhouse.blogspot.com/ Her blog is new, but very nice.

Next is Kitty Macdonald. She has a blog listed, but I couldn't seem to get the link to work. Sorry Kitty.

Then there is Wanda of So Mini Projects http://sominiprojects.blogspot.com/ She's another new blogger. Go over and see what she is doing in the garden.

Lisa, doesn't show a blog, but she has a lot of neat photos on Picturetrail. http://www.picturetrail.com/lmsalati Go watch a slide show. It's really fun.

Next is Lainie of Lainie's Little Things. http://lainieslittlethings.blogspot.com/ Another fairly new blog with lots to look at.

There is Karen L. She has two blogs listed, but one is blank and the other has only one entry.... It is called Learn and Teach. http://learn-and-teach.blogspot.com/ Karen, we need to get you to write some more. The one entry is very interesting.

Tebbina is next. Her blog is Tebbina's Dream. http://tebbinastraum.blogspot.com/ She's another new one. Very nice mini books.

Last but not least, we have Naty. Her blog is The Magical World of Naty. http://elmundomagicodenaty.blogspot.com/ She is doing a wonderful pastry shop.

Welcome to all of you! Come on in, sit down and have a cup of tea, a cupcake and sit a spell.

Workroom? What Workroom?

I went on strike this morning. I am taking the day off from cleaning the workroom....I know that is a bad thing to do, but I just wanted to do something else....Anything else.

Beads and poly clay were easy to access and easy to put back when done, so they were my weapon of choice. Tessie needs things for the workshop.

I grabbed a box of shape cutters and the usual tools. All I used was a big block of white glitter Fimo that I accidentally purchased, not noticing the work glitter....I may never use it all at this rate. It is huge, but in this case, the color didn't matter.

I decided to do some bottles, formed over beads and then to color them with opalescent powders.

It doesn't make a difference what shape of bead you use, as long as it pleases you.

This was one of the odd ones that I have had laying around for years.

First I rolled out the clay with the Walton rolling pin. It is one that they put out for fondant work. I like it better than the acrylic roller that I have because it has two sets of bands that fit on either end to make the clay all the same thickness. In this case I was using the one that measures 1/16".

I cut the sheet the right size to fit around the bead and on one end I cut out V shapes to get rid of some of the excess clay. The other end I left as is, so that I would have excess clay to play with for the top of the bottle.

As I formed the clay around the bead, I kept standing it up to make sure that it was level.

I smoothed the surface working from bottom to top, so that the extra clay made a rough top flair.

After I did that, I pressed a rubber stamp into the sides and did some more shaping on the top.

I rolled a teardrop shape for the stopper.

Last, I used a small brush to cover it with the powder.

From left to right on the back row.....The pitcher was the only one done with alcohol ink dropped onto the slab and smeared.

Next, the twisted one was a flat bead. I brought up the clay and pinched it into the center. Then I twisted the neck and covered with powder.

The pink one was a marble. I simply covered it, and twisted the neck into a knot.

The next is another twisted one,with a stopper on top.

The two with the snail tops were rolled out into a long snake and coiled. They don't actually open(they could). There is simply an indentation scored around them to look like a top and bottom.

The aqua one is the one that you saw in the first photos.

The last two are made the same way, but I cut little Vs out of the top edge and flared them to look like a flower. The center of the flower is a stopper. I scored the sides of the last one and put an extra layer of petals at the bottom.

Row two.

The top of the mortar and pestle was formed over the end of a pen and pried off. The bottom was made separately and glued on with liquid Fimo. The pestle is just a little rope with one thick end.

The three copper bowls were formed over a very rough bead. They were still made with the white clay and then copper powder was brushed on.

The plates down front were rolled out and cut with a circle cutter. This was the scrap clay from the rest.

I used every bit of the clay that I rolled out! No waste this time!

Tessie is gloating because, I went back to work on her stuff. Zar is off somewhere pouting....

I am a happy camper and may even go back and finish the fourth wall, now that I have had a break.

See you tomorrow.

The Easy Way Out.....

Wall number three is done....We won't talk about wall number four or the center of the room yet.....Here's proof of three. I have the TV set on HGTV for inspiration. It's not working. All they do anymore is sell houses and fix up houses to sell.

While I was at Wednesday Witches yesterday, I had another idea for a fast rug. I have a bunch of over dyed embroidery floss from Needle Necessities. Each skein has been dipped in several colors, so as you stitch, it makes a pattern.

I decided to experiment. I love doing basket weave stitch. It goes fast and is worked diagonally. Rather than having just row after row of variegated color, I wanted some kind of vague pattern. I marked off 12 thread squares in even numbers in both directions. Then I alternated the direction of the stitches in each square.

In this case, I had four squares going across and I started with six lengthwise. It may get longer....I have room for that. Due to poor planning on a scrap of canvas, it will be no wider.

As you can see, it almost has a granny afghan feel to it. I plan to put several rows of a solid color around the edge to finish it.

I really have no idea where it will live when it is finished. I just needed something that I didn't have to think about as I worked.

I am liking it so far and Tessie has already claimed it.

Nothing has been settled about which house gets worked on and in what order. I told them that they have a couple of days until I finish cleaning.

Meanwhile, Zar came up with a project of his own. He dug up some clear barreled Pentel (cheapo) pens and some clear pushpins that I found at Walmart.

He took my miter box in hand and cut lengths of the pen barrels after dismantling the rest of the pen.(If you do this, save one of the pens and all of the insides. The one pen will last forever, because the ink cartridge can be replaced over and over.)

After cutting the barrel, he sanded the ends. He didn't have any glass paint so he used regular acrylic to paint the inside of the tube. He let it dry and then popped one of the push pins into the center top with E-6000 glue. After that dried, he used a small gold foil square to cover the top.

I found a bunch of the gold foil squares that they use to wrap fancy candy in at a garage sale....New....Not used. You could do other things like adding a bead or even just a circle of card stock to the top.

Anyway.....Almost instant bottle of something....Now all it needs is a label. These aren't the most perfect bottles around, but they will work well for filling shelves in the workroom later.

OK....I am off to see what I can do about that fourth wall and floor. Wish me luck!

See you tomorrow.